The Doors (1991) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error | Biography , Drama , Music | 1 March 1991 (USA) The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band The Doors and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison , from his days as a UCLA film student in Los Angeles, to his untimely death in Paris, France at age 27 in 1971. Director: Randall Jahnson (as J.

Randal Johnson), Oliver Stone Stars: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 36 titles created 26 Nov 2010 a list of 49 titles created 14 Jun 2012 a list of 45 titles created 24 Jan 2013 a list of 33 titles created 13 Mar 2015 a list of 40 titles created 30 Apr 2015 Search for " The Doors " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for. Director: Oliver Stone Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media. Director: Oliver Stone A New Orleans DA discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story. Director: Oliver Stone A biographical story of former U.S.

president Richard Milhous Nixon, from his days as a young boy to his eventual presidency which ended in shame. Director: Oliver Stone A young and impatient stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider who takes the youth under his wing. Director: Oliver Stone The final movie in Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy follows the true story of a Vietnamese village girl who survives a life of suffering and hardship during and after the Vietnam war. As a ... See full summary » Director: Oliver Stone A man heading to Vegas to pay off his gambling debt before the Russian mafia kills him, is forced to stop in an Arizona town where everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. Director: Oliver Stone An American photojournalist gets caught in a political struggle at El Salvador in 1980. Director: Oliver Stone Edit Storyline Oliver Stone's homage to 1960s rock group The Doors also doubles as a biography of the group's late singer, the "Electric Poet" Jim Morrison. The movie follows Morrison from his days as a film student in Los Angeles to his death in Paris, France at age 27 in 1971.

The movie features a tour-de-force performance by Val Kilmer, who not only looks like Jim Morrison's long-lost twin brother, but also sounds so much like him that he did much of his own singing. It has been written that even the surviving Doors had trouble distinguishing Kilmer's vocals from Morrison's originals. Written by Denise P. Meyer <dpm1@cornell.edu> Taglines: "There are things known and things unknown and in between are The Doors." -- Jim Morrison See more » Genres: Rated R for heavy drug content, and for strong sexuality and language | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 1 March 1991 (USA) See more » Also Known As: 140 min Sound Mix: 70 mm 6-Track (analog 70 mm prints)| CDS (digital 35 mm and 70 mm prints)| Dolby SR (analog 35 mm prints) Color: Did You Know? Trivia In the film, the band is signed after being fired from Whiskey-a-Go-Go. In real life, they were signed by Elektra Records on August 18, 1966.

Whiskey-a-Go-Go fired the band on August 21, after Morrison used acid induced, profane, Oedipus Rex lyrics. See more » Goofs In the film, a female photographer sexily encourages Morrison to take his shirt off, resulting in the iconic "Young Lion" photo first seen in the Village Voice, and later used as the cover photo for the Doors 1985 "Best Of" album. The photographer was actually a man, Joel Brodsky. See more » Quotes Andy Warhol : Somebody gave me this telephone... I think it was Edie... yeah it was Edie... and she said I could talk to God with it, but uh... I don't have anything to say... so here... [giving Jim the phone] – See all my reviews The Doors is unapologetically a film about sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. For 140 minutes we follow Doors singer Jim Morrison from his days as an aspiring film student at UCLA to his death in Paris in 1970 at the age of 27. Writer-director Oliver Stone based the story of the film on some 150 transcripts detailing the life and character of Morrison.

The result is far from flattering. The Doors paints a picture of a man enamored with death, his own inevitable demise more a relief than an agony. Death stalks Morrison wherever he goes from a young age. As a child driving through the New Mexico desert with his family, Morrison happens across the site of a car accident littered with dead and dying Navahos. We watch the young Morrison endure what seems to be a sort of possession rite by spirits of the dead natives. Years later he'll profess to be a shaman and from what we see on screen, he might well have believed it to be true. Native American spirits dance alongside Morrison as he sings on stage. Whether these were real or simply an acid fueled hallucination is left deliberately unclear by Stone. Likewise, a death-like character (Richard Rutowski) shadows Morrison throughout his life as a rock singer. Whether this indicates Morrison saw death as a friend, was actually accompanied by Rutowski (who was a real life friend of Morrison), or was simply hallucinating remains ambiguous. What is clear is the following: in his great desire to self destruct, Morrison drank whiskey like water and spent an inordinate amount of time on precarious ledges outside Hotel windows thirty stories up.

Kilmer's performance as Morrison is easily the finest of his career. Raw, nervy, deliberately off putting and confrontational, moments of sobriety are few are far between for this insecure egomaniac. At times I didn't feel as though I was watching a portrayal of a character long deceased so much as a documentary. From threatening suicide repeatedly to quarreling constantly with police at concerts, scenes of bad behavior are many but moments of insight are few and far between. This doesn't seem a shortcoming on behalf of director Stone so much as an accurate depiction of the highly acidic Morrison as he truly was; this was a man who didn't want to be understood. This was an artist on the constant edge of oblivion; an iconoclast who refused to be loved and was close to intolerable whenever possible. Of course it's less than a pleasant experience following the venomous creature that Morrison became for the film's final hour as he goes from alcohol induced nervous breakdown to drug fueled indecent exposure, but I for one appreciate Stone's refusal to Hollywoodize the life and death of Morrison.

Kilmer abandons completely all instinct for self preservation on screen, submerging himself in a performance that can only be described as his magnum opus. Meg Ryan leads the supporting cast as Pamela "Morrison" Courson, Morrison's longtime lover and common-law wife. Ryan seems lost in the role but thankfully spends a minimal amount of time on screen as Morrison was a firm supporter of the "free love" social movement. Indeed, he spends more time with journalist and witchcraft enthusiast Patricia Kennealy (Kathleen Quinlan), an amalgam of several Morrison lovers who suffered through his frequent alcohol and drug induced impotence. A very fine Michael Madsen is wasted as actor Tom Baker, a friend of Morrison's whose relationship is grossly underdeveloped. The only performance among the supporting cast worthy of praise is that of quirky character actor Crispin Glover in a cameo as Andy Warhol, a scene that is absolutely spellbinding. Some may criticize The Doors for glamorizing a life of excess; this film gives younger viewers the idea that drugs and promiscuous sex are fun, critics may charge. Those who would are missing the point entirely.

As are those who would interpret this film as the cautionary tale of a life wasted. Little about the character we view on screen is glamorous. It seems no accident that Morrison died as he did. This was a man obsessed with death; his demise seems more a moment of wish fulfillment than tragedy. My only significant criticism of the film is that the title is certainly a misnomer; this could have easily been titled "The Jim Morrison Story" as there is not a single scene on screen without the eccentric singer while the remaining members of the band are relegated to obscurity. Call it art imitating life once more. 13 of 15 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes The Doors Movie Review & Film Summary (1991) | Roger Ebert Tweet F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that the problem with American lives is that they have no second act. The problem with Jim Morrison’s life was that it had no first and third. His childhood was lost in a mist of denial - he never quite forgave his father for being an admiral - and his maturity was interrupted by an early death, caused by his relentless campaign against his own mind and body.

What he left behind was a protracted adolescence, during which he recorded some great rock ‘n’ roll. Advertisement If we can trust Oliver Stone ’s new biographical film, “The Doors,” life for Jim Morrison was like being trapped for months at a time in the party from hell. He wanders out of the sun’s glare, a curly haired Southern California beach boy with a cute pout and a notebook full of poetry. He picks up a beer, he smokes a joint, and then life goes on fast-forward as he gobbles up drugs and booze with both hands, while betraying his friends and making life miserable for anyone who loves him. By the age of 27 he is dead. Watching the movie is like being stuck in a bar with an obnoxious drunk, when you’re not drinking. The songs he left behind, it is true, are wonderful. Many of them are on the soundtrack of “The Doors,” which combines Morrison’s original vocals and new vocals by Val Kilmer so seamlessly that there is never, not even for a moment, the sensation that Kilmer is not singing everything we hear. That illusion is strengthened by Kilmer’s appearance.

He looks so uncannily like Jim Morrison that we feel this is not a case of casting, but of possession. The performance is the best thing in the movie - and since nearly every scene centers on Morrison, that is not small praise. Val Kilmer has always had a remarkable talent, which until now has been largely overlooked, but if you want to see why Stone thought he could be convincing as a rock star, look at “ Top Secret! ,” the “Airplane!”-style spoof of spy movies in which Kilmer plays Elvis Presley . Because of Kilmer, and because of extraordinary location work with countless convincing extras, the concert scenes in “The Doors” play with the authenticity of a documentary. Advertisement If the songs are timeless and the concert footage is convincing, however, the scenes from life are more painful than in any other backstage movie I can remember. The typical showbiz biopic describes a sort of parabola, in which the talented kid wins early fame, begins to self-destruct, hits bottom, and then makes his big comeback and goes on, of course, to have a movie made about him. Jim Morrison becomes a star very quickly, and then self-destructs as quickly and efficiently as he can. It is not a pretty picture.

He must have been one of those people with a constitutional inability to handle drugs or booze in any quantity. For him there is no moderation; he isn’t seeking to get high, he’s looking for oblivion. He knows it. His poetry and lyrics - and a lot of the dialogue in the movie - glorify death. He’s infatuated with it, mesmerized by death as the ultimate trip, and as the ultimate loyalty test: If you love him, you will die with and/or for him. He’s like Edgar Allen Poe on acid, crawling along the ledges outside hotel windows, or begging his lovers to stab him in the heart. This kind of narcissism has its source, of course, in self-loathing, and the early scenes of Jim preening and posturing before the camera like a male pinup eventually segue into scenes where he hides behind a beard and dark glasses, hibernating in hotel rooms on long, lonely binges.

Oliver Stone, who as a young man once tried to pitch an early version of this screenplay to Morrison himself, has a natural feel for the Los Angeles beach and rock scene in the years when the Doors were first establishing themselves as “the band from Venice.” Morrison materializes on the beach like a young god from the sea, falls in love with a hippie chick ( Meg Ryan ), and reads his poetry, which is sophomoric, but translates easily into haunting song lyrics, helped by the mournful quality of his voice. Whatever else you can say about Morrison and the Doors, there is no denying their sound; their records, especially “Light My Fire” and “L.A. Woman,” have become a part of our shared consciousness. Advertisement Stone shows the band working out some early arrangements and playing early gigs at rock clubs on the Sunset Strip, and then, just as in life, Jim Morrison becomes a superstar at about the same time he becomes unreliable as a stage performer. He carries a bottle with him everywhere, gulping big slugs of booze as if it were pop. He uses drugs.

They do not help his personality, and he becomes mean-spirited and autocratic to those who depend on him, and obnoxious to the public - except, of course, for those moments when lightning strikes and his underlying talent flashes out. The band grows weary of him - of the missed dates, the no-shows, the late arrivals, and endless recording sessions in which a drunken or hungover Morrison indulges himself in expensive retakes. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek (Kyle Maclachlan) who first told him he had potential as a singer, drifts into a kind of passive-aggressive trance, sitting stone-faced during Morrison’s outbursts. Others threaten to quit. Listening to the final version of one of his best albums, Morrison tells the musicians, “That’s not bad for a bunch of guys who weren’t even talking to each other the day the album was recorded.” Prancing and preening onstage as a sex god, Morrison is bedeviled by impotence in real life; the drugs have done their work.

Advertisement In the movie’s most extraordinary scene, he encounters an older rock journalist ( Kathleen Quinlan ) who is heavily into sadomasochism and the trappings of witchcraft, and who through heroic measures, including pain, ritual and the mutual drinking of blood, succeeds in stimulating Morrison to the point where he actually achieves potency - although, if the movie is to be trusted, it was his last hurrah. Quinlan’s character is almost the only one able to break through the fog of Morrison’s indulgences to create a distinctive screen persona for herself (the character is miles different from anything she has played before, and brilliantly conceived and executed). The other principals in Morrison’s life, even his wife as played by Ryan, are supporting characters who drift in and out of focus during his long, sad binge. The experience of watching “The Doors” is not always very pleasant. There are the songs, of course, and some electrifying concert moments, but mostly there is the mournful, self-pitying descent of this young man into selfish and boring stupor. Having seen this movie, I am not sad to have missed the opportunity to meet Jim Morrison, and I can think of few fates more painful than being part of his support system.

The last hour of the film, in particular, is a dirge of wretched excess, of drunken would-be orgies and obnoxious behavior, of concerts in which the audiences wait for hours for the spectacle of Morrison stumbling onstage to fake a few songs or, notoriously, to expose himself. Advertisement In the end, Stone leaves a large question unanswered: How was Morrison able to leave the country after being sentenced to a jail term for public indecency? But leave he did, to die of an “apparent heart attack” in Paris, where he lies buried to this day, his tomb a mecca for his fans, who have spray-painted all of the neighboring tombs with exhortations and obscenities. Even in death, Jim Morrison is no fun to be around. Popular Blog Posts View All Critic Reviews (59) Audience Reviews for The Doors Jim Morrison: This is the strangest life I've ever known. "The Ultimate Story of Sex, Drugs & Rock 'N' Roll" The Doors is about the best movie I could imagine being made about Jim Morrison and The Doors. Although the film may be named The Doors; it would probably make more sense if it were titled Jim Morrison, because that's really what this film is about.

The sad fact is that Jim Morrison was The Doors and although the other three had amazing talent, they always seemed to be left in the shadow of Morrison. This film captures that aspect of the band extremely well. Oliver Stone attacks the story of Jim Morrison as he would any other story, with the most controversial topics that came up in Morrison's life. Although with Morrison as his subject, it really wasn't too hard to find controversy. Whether it be Morrison experimenting with acid and peyote, getting black out drunk, screwing every girl that came to his concerts, rebelling against authority, or possibly showing his privates at a concert; Jim Morrison is controversy. Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison makes complete sense. Kilmer looks the part and when I say that, I mean it. He looks like Jim Morrison in a way I've only seen from one other biopic and that was Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line. Kilmer does do a good job in a very complicated and difficult role. The supporting cast fills in around him nicely as well. The Doors is a movie I really enjoyed as a Doors fan.

I also love how Oliver Stone created the perfect drug infused, alcoholic, opinionated atmosphere that I would have to believe surrounded Morrison his whole life. If you're a fan of The Doors, this is an absolute must watch. For everyone else, it may still be worth a look, as it is a great music biopic. Melvin White Super Reviewer A good, psychedelic movie about the band the Doors, Kilmer is good playing Morrison, one of his best roles. I liked this movie. Aj V Super Reviewer Oliver Stone's Biopic on The Doors is somewhat an imperfect attempt at telling the story of the legendary rock band of the same name. I say imperfect because most of the events that happen in the film are exaggerated. Some of the original members have claimed that Oliver Stone has ignored their input when they were making the film for his creative liberty. What we have here is a semi fictional biopic with the facts twisted around to make the story seem more dramatic. Some events in the film never did happen. This a film that is a perfect example of what happens when you sacrifice truth for fiction. But I guess it doesn't really matter as long as the film is entertaining. The film is definitely an awesome journey through the 60's.

A nostalgic piece of psychedelic rock and peace and love abound in this film as Oliver Stone takes us on an unforgettable journey of the legendary rock band. The cast that he has assembled here is great especially Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison. Kilmer deliver delivers the best performance of his career in The Doors. Val Kilmer did his own vocals for Doors songs and thats one of the high points of the film. Despite the flaws, Kilmer's acting saves this film. This isn't the best biopic on a band, but it definitely isn't the worst. The thing that may be conflicting is the fact that the film focuses more on Jim Morrison than the band itself. As far as I'm concerned, This film should have been titled differently. Besides for Kilmer the rest of cast do a fine job at portraying the real people. Even if it's not 100% accurate, and it's most definitely not, The Doors is still a pretty interesting film to watch and enjoy. I thought the film was good, but flawed, but by no means terrible. Stone is still able to paint a vivid portrait of the 1960's, and succeeds fairly well in doing so. If you're a Doors fan, check this one out.

But just remember that Oliver Stone fictionalized most of the story to make this film more dramatic. If it wasn't for Val Kilmer awesome portrayal of Jim Morrison, this film would be a total faillure but it isn't. Alex roy Super Reviewer Kilmer and Ryan weren't the right cast, but the actual movie was well written and definitely right in its assessment. Spencer S. Watch The Doors Online | 1991 Movie | Yidio Watch The Doors "The Ultimate Story of Sex, Drugs & Rock 'N' Roll" The Doors is the semi-biographical 1991 film from director Oliver Stone. It is a film that is loosely based on the historical music career of the Doors. The film takes audiences through a retrospective of the band before they formed until the death of lead singer Jim Morrison in 1971. The role of lead singer Jim Morrison is played by actor Val Kilmer. The Doors begins with a trip through the mind of Jim Morrison and his first psychedelic vision that includes the death of an elderly native American man. This all proceeds Jim arriving in California, where he meets with destiny and finds his lifelong girlfriend Pamela Courson, played by Meg Ryan.

He also meets with future band collaborator Ray Manzarek, and soon the two musicians team up with John Densmore and Robby Krieger to form the band that changed a generation with rock music. The Doors is equally a film that wants the audience to understand how the sex, drugs, and rock music of the sixties was influencing American culturally. Although this is such a wide topic, the film barely scratches the surface really. If anything, The Doors tries hard to draw the audience into the reality it creates as a film. For modern audiences, it also allows a window into the hippie counterculture that has made the 1960s famous to this very day. The Doors shows itself to be a movie about music and America during times of great influence upon history. Oliver Stone's The Doors: a flash in the pan that won't light anyone's fire | Film | The Guardian Oliver Stone's The Doors: a flash in the pan that won't light anyone's fire Alex von Tunzelmann With more stagger than swagger this Jim Morrison biopic looks great, but there's not a lot going on underneath Under his skin ... Val Kilmer is Jim Morrison's doppelganger in Oliver Stone's The Doors.

Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive With more stagger than swagger this Jim Morrison biopic looks great, but there's not a lot going on underneath Thursday 17 February 2011 07.07 EST Entertainment grade: D– History grade: B Formed in 1965 in California, rock band The Doors have sold more than 90m albums worldwide. Childhood I feel another pompous poem coming on The film begins with the aftermath of a road accident in the desert. Driving past in his family car, four-year-old Jim Morrison sees scores of grievously injured native Americans. The real Morrison's parents and sister disputed his memory of the incident, which is referenced in several Doors songs ("Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding… All over the highway, bleeding to death"), as exaggeration. But this movie is concerned with creating a historical picture of Jim Morrison's psyche, not necessarily with creating a historical picture of reality. Jim Morrison's psyche and reality were not closely acquainted. So the film may be on factually dubious territory here, but it is being true to its subject. Politics Stocking filler ... don't mention the Nazis It's 1965 in Venice Beach, and Morrison is at UCLA film school.

In a perfect casting decision, he is now played by Val Kilmer. Not only did Kilmer, back in 1991 when he was thin and pretty, look exactly like Jim Morrison – but he's got the swaggering, dimwitted, pretentious arrogance spot on. Morrison's film school project has him reading his own terrible poetry over footage of Nazi rallies and disembodied female legs in black stockings. This is the sort of feeble attempt to be edgy that an oafish wannabe provocateur like Morrison would surely produce. Except, er, he didn't. According to Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, who was at UCLA with Morrison and who reportedly fell out with Oliver Stone during production of the movie, Morrison's student film included one German actress, but no Nazi imagery. Ah. OK. Sorry, Jim. Dialogue Will Jim's poetry pass the acid test? Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive Though he may be acquitted over the Nazi stuff, Morrison is guilty of crimes against poetry. The screenplay does a marvellous job of capturing his all-too-imitable style.

"Let's plan a murder, start a religion!" he bellows, leaping atop a car so as better to show everyone how profound he is. "You're all plastic soldiers in a miniature dirt war." And then: "Devouring consciousness! Digesting power! Monster of energy! It's a monster! Nothing will destroy our circle! Ride the snake! Ride the snake … to the lake!" Imagine how much acid everyone must have been doing to think any of this was good. People I wish I was back in When Harry Met Sally. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive Historically, the film is right that the appeal of The Doors was less about the music than about Morrison's looks and legend. But this creates a problem for it cinematically, because there's no one to like. Morrison is shown to be a talentless, spoiled egomaniac, unable to stagger through a single scene without whisky, pills or powder. The real Doors have argued that his addictions have been camped up for the movie. Kyle MacLachlan's Agent Cooper-ish take on Ray Manzarek is vaguely appealing, but he's not given enough screentime to take over as the hero.

Meanwhile, Morrison's long-suffering girlfriend Pam Courson (Meg Ryan) is such a drip that it's impossible to summon up sympathy for her. The flimsy portrayal of Courson, who died of a heroin overdose in 1974, offended the surviving Doors. Apparently, in real life, she had a personality and everything. Crime It takes a lot of bottle to get up on stage. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive The film's big setpiece is a notorious gig in Miami in 1969. As in the movie, Morrison slumped onstage late and drunk, insulted his own fans at length, and then, allegedly, flashed them. The film shows Morrison sticking his own finger out of his fly to simulate exposure. "Oh shit, you can see his thing!" gasps the organiser, and the police descend. Morrison was convicted of indecent exposure. This was disputed by witnesses, including bandmate John Densmore. "I was there," Densmore said. "If Jim had revealed the golden shaft, I would have known." These people really talk like that.

Morrison received a posthumous pardon in 2010 from Florida governor Charlie Crist, who evidently could think of no better use of legislative time. Verdict Did jumpin' Jim flash? Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive It's a bloated, pompous, unbalanced film, which looks great but has nothing going on beneath the surface. This is the biopic Jim Morrison deserved. The Doors | Rolling Stone artists > T > The Doors > Bio The Doors Bio Morrison and Manzarek, acquaintances from the UCLA Graduate School of Film, conceived the group at a 1965 meeting on a Southern California beach. After Morrison recited one of his poems, "Moonlight Drive," Manzarek — who had studied classical piano as a child and played in Rick and the Ravens, a UCLA blues band — suggested they collaborate on songs. Manzarek's brothers, Rick and Jim, served as guitarists until Manzarek met John Densmore, who brought in Robby Krieger; both had been members of the Psychedelic Rangers. Morrison christened the band the Doors, from William Blake via Aldous Huxley's book on mescaline, The Doors of Perception.

The Doors soon recorded a demo tape, and in the summer of 1966 they began working as the house band at the Whisky-a-Go-Go, a gig that ended four months later when they were fired for performing the explicitly Oedipal "The End," one of Morrison's many songs that included dramatic recitations. By then Jac Holzman of Elektra Records had been convinced by Arthur Lee of Love to sign the band. An edited version of Krieger's "Light My Fire" from the Doors' debut album (Number Two, 1967) became a Number One hit in 1967, while "progressive" FM radio played (and analyzed) "The End." The band's two sides came to a head during their 1967 appearance on The Ed Sullivan show when Morrison kept the word "higher" in the lyrics to "Light My Fire" despite the show's request to remove it (whether it was intentional or not remains up to debate). Sullivan banned them from making future appearances. Morrison's image as the embodiment of dark psychological impulses was established quickly, even as he was being featured in such teen magazines as 16.

Strange Days (Number Three, 1967) and Waiting for the Sun (Number One, 1968) both included hit singles and became best-selling albums. Waiting for the Sun also marked the first appearance of Morrison's mythic alter ego, the Lizard King, in a poem printed inside the record jacket entitled "The Celebration of the Lizard King." Though part of the poem was used as lyrics for "Not to Touch the Earth," a complete "Celebration" didn't appear on record until Absolutely Live (Number Eight, 1970). It was impossible to tell whether Morrison's Lizard King persona was a parody of a pop star or simply inspired exhibitionism, but it earned him considerable notoriety. In December 1967 he was arrested for public obscenity at a concert in New Haven, and in August 1968 he was arrested for disorderly conduct aboard an airplane en route to Phoenix. Not until his March 1969 arrest in Miami for exhibiting "lewd and lascivious behavior by exposing his private parts and by simulating masturbation and oral copulation" onstage did Morrison's behavior adversely affect the band.

Court proceedings kept the singer in Miami most of the year although the prosecution could produce neither eyewitnesses nor photos of Morrison performing the acts. Charges were dropped, but public furor (which inspired a short-lived Rally for Decency movement), concert promoters' fear of similar incidents, and Morrison's own mixed feelings about celebrity resulted in erratic concert schedules thereafter. The Soft Parade (Number Six, 1969), far more elaborately produced than the Doors' other albums, met with a mixed reception from fans, but it too had a Number Three hit single, "Touch Me." Morrison began to devote more attention to projects outside the band: writing poetry, collaborating on a screenplay with poet Michael McClure, and directing a film, A Feast of Friends (he had also made films to accompany "Break On Through" and the 1968 single "The Unknown Soldier"). Simon & Schuster published The Lords and the New Creatures in 1971; an earlier book, An American Prayer, was privately printed in 1970 but not made widely available until 1978, when the surviving Doors regrouped and set Morrison's recitation of the poem to music.

In 1989 Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison was published. Although Morrison expressed to friends and associates his wish to be remembered as a poet, overall his writings have found few fans among critics. By then some felt, especially after "Touch Me," that the band had sold out, and Morrison's dangerous persona was more often ridiculed than not. Critic Lester Bangs once tagged him "Bozo Dionysus." Soon after L.A. Woman (Number Nine, 1971) was recorded, Morrison took an extended leave of absence from the group. Obviously physically and emotionally drained, he moved to Paris, where he hoped to write and where he and his wife, Pamela Courson Morrison, lived in seclusion. He died of heart failure in his bathtub in 1971 at age 27. Partly because news of his death was not made public until days after his burial in Paris' Père-Lachaise cemetery, some still refuse to believe Morrison is dead. His wife, one of the few people who saw Morrison's corpse, died in Hollywood of a heroin overdose on April 25, 1974.

The Doors continued to record throughout 1973 as a trio, but after two albums it seemed they had exhausted the possibilities of a band without a commanding lead singer. Manzarek had hoped to reconstitute the group with Iggy Pop, whose avowed chief influence was Morrison, but plans fell through. After the Doors broke up, Manzarek recorded two solo albums, and one with a short-lived group called Nite City. He produced the first four albums by L.A.'s X, and in 1983 he collaborated with composer Philip Glass on a rock version of Carl Orff's modern cantata, Carmina Burana. Krieger and Densmore formed the Butts Band, which lasted three years and recorded two albums. In 1972 a Doors greatest-hits collection, Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine was released, hit Number 55, and went gold. Krieger released his first solo album in 1981 and toured in 1982. Ironically, the group's best years began in 1980, nine years after Morrison's death.

With the release of the Danny Sugerman–Jerry Hopkins biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive, sales of the Doors' music and the already large Jim Morrison cult — spurred by his many admirers and imitators in new-wave bands — grew even more. Record sales for 1980 alone topped all previous figures; as one Rolling Stone line put it: "He's Hot, He's Sexy, He's Dead." And that was just the beginning. The 1983 release of Alive, She Cried, followed by MTV's airing of Doors videos, introduced Morrison and the band to a new generation, and Oliver Stone's 1991 film biography of the group, starring Val Kilmer as Morrison, was a critical and commercial success. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder filled in for Morrison for the Doors' performance at the ceremonies. The Morrison cult continues to grow, particularly among the young.

In 1990 his graffiti-covered headstone was stolen; in 1993, on what would have been his 50th birthday, hundreds of mourners — many not even born before he died — traveled from around the world to pay tribute. Because of the destruction these visitors often wreak on the cemetery during their pilgrimages, many Parisians petitioned to move Morrison's grave when its 30-year lease expired in 2001; French officials, however, opted to leave Morrison's remains in their resting place. A box set with material chosen by the band was released in 1997. Emphasizing live (the set starts off with the notorious version of "Five to One" recorded at the March '69 Miami concert) and lesser-known tracks ("Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor," a 25-minute free-form jam called "Rock Is Dead"), the four-disc set includes "Orange County Suite," a "Free as a Bird"–style song — i.e., new instrumental tracks were dubbed onto an old Morrison vocal.

His vocals were resurrected yet again in 2000, when Fatboy Slim sampled Morrison's reading of "Bird of Prey" for a track on his album Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. That same year, VH1 taped an episode of its Storytellers series in which the Cult's Ian Astbury, Creed singer Scott Stapp, Stone Temple Pilot's Scott Weiland, Days of the New frontman Travis Meeks, and Perry Farrell took turns covering Doors songs. The singers were backed by the surviving members of the Doors; it was the first time the three had played together since their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The episode aired around the same time Elektra released Stoned Immaculate: The Music of the Doors, which featured Krieger, Manzarek, and Densmore participating in their own tribute album. Capitalizing on the continual interest in the band, the Doors launched an Internet-based label, Bright Midnight Records, which released The Bright Midnight Sampler at the end of 2000.

The Doors Live in Detroit and No One Here Gets Out Alive — a radio interview with the remaining Doors members that originally aired in 1980 — followed in 2001. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger formed a new band called The Doors of the 21st Century with Angelo Barbera on bass and Astbury stepping in as Morrison. After Densmore opted out reportedly due to tinnitus and Police drummer Stewart Copeland left due to a broken arm, the new band finally settled on Krieger drummer Ty Dennis. The following year Densmore, claiming he actually had not been invited to take part in the new band, filed an injunction against Manzarak and Krieger in an attempt to stop them from using the Doors name. Jim Morrison's estate joined him in the suit. In July 2005 they won the injunction and the band changed its name to D21C, and then changed it again to Riders on the Storm.

In 2008, the five-year legal battle ended when the California Supreme Court refused to hear Manzarek and Krieger's additional appeals to the $5.2 million fine they were ordered to pay Densmore and Morrison's estate during the 2005 suit. Manzarek and Krieger continued to tour despite Astbury's 2007 departure to revive The Cult. They replaced him with Brett Scallions, the former frontman of Fuel and began touring as Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors. Densmore has continued to thwart efforts to license The Doors' music for commercials, including a $15 million offer from Cadillac and a $4 million offer from Apple, Inc. In a 2002 essay for The Nation he wrote that commercial use of the music would violate its original intent. Despite this, the band's music was licensed for use as the soundtrack to an episode of the CBS crime drama Cold Case in February, 2010.

In 2006, the year before the 40th anniversary of the release of the Doors' debut album, Perception, yet another box set of the band's complete studio recordings, appeared. This one included surround-sound versions of some tracks, extra songs and DVDs. In 2007 the Doors received a lifetime achievement award at the Grammys and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Between 2008 and 2009 several more archival LPs were released: Live at the Matrix captures the widely-bootlegged shows the band played at the San Francisco venue prior to "Light My Fire" catapulting them to success. In September 2009, Rhino Records reissued the Doors' records with Jim Morrison on 180-gram. Two months later, the band's final four concerts with Morrison were released as a box set. Nearly a third of the music on the six-disc Live in New York was previously unreleased. In early 2010, the band's "Riders on the Storm" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

2010 will also see the limited release of a new Tom DiCillo-directed documentary about the band, When You're Strange: A Film About the Doors, featuring previously unseen footage and narrated by Johnny Depp. An accompanying soundtrack will pair studio versions of the band's songs with iconic live renditions. Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001). Erica Futterman contributed to this story.

Question: Who played Jim Morrisson in Oliver Stone's film "The Doors"?
Answer: VAL KILMER